Strong winds forecast for Montreal today

Strong winds toppled trees in southern New England last evening. The gusty winds will spread across northern New England, Ontario and into southern Quebec today. 
(The Weather Channel Photo)

Low pressure continues to lift north of the Great Lakes this morning into northern Quebec. Heavy rain, strong winds and falling leaves made for a challenging drive on Montreal roads for the Wednesday evening commute. The rain is just about over with this system with the exception of a few showers along a cold front later this afternoon in Montreal. I measured 35.8mm of rain here on L'Ile Perrot, most of that falling in a 12-hour period from noon to midnight Wednesday.

Today the big story will be the strong and gusty winds marching east this morning across southern Ontario. Winds have already been as high as 90 km/h in Port Colborne. Wind warnings have been posted right along the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. There, winds will reach the warning criteria of 90km/h. Away from the lakes, we can still expect 50km/h winds with gusts up to 80km/h. This includes metro Montreal. Winds this strong can knock branches onto power lines, so don't park your car under any large trees today if you can avoid it. Temperatures will start the day mild in the warm sector of the storm with highs up to 16C (60F). Temperatures will begin to cool off rapidly this afternoon with overnight lows tonight down to 0C (32F). Friday will be a typical late-October day with clouds, gusty winds and a very cool high temperature of 6C (43F). Halloween Saturday is expected to be sunny with a high of 8C (48F). Clouds will be on the increase with showers late in the night.

As a final note, get those winter tires on, as it won't be long now... this morning, snow is falling across portions of northwest Ontario, northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan on the back side of this fall storm.